not sure how long catherine will be in hospital but a few people have asked for the addy (i know it was posted but here it is again). if you want to send orchids or pics or card or notes.
catherine connolly
st peter's hospital
room 6217
315 s. manning blvd
albany ny, 12208

Thanks, I hope you weren't munching any Dorito's and sprayed a poor bystander. Can imagine laughing hysterically in NYC this month is probably not the most conductive towards friendly relationships with your fellow passengers... Everybody is a bit twitchy over there?

I badly cracked some ribs last week Monday windsurfing, so when my parents told me the story (they did the whole thing in role play!) on Tuesday I was in severe pain trying not to laugh, making the whole thing worse still.

Drifting off topic:

Go the Catherine!

A bit less twitchy now that Sept 11th has passed but the train is seldom warm and friendly regardless. The Wall Street types are walking fear these days (years at this point). And no Doritos were harmed in the reading of the adventure. Sorry to hear about your ribs though!

thanks everyone. there's talk they may release me in a few days. i dunno. i pooped today. that was exciting. i walked all the way downstairs into the sunshine and sat for awhile. i'm drifting off. dave k and wife thanks for the beautiful flowers, charlie and charlotte, the cookies! and shirt. everyone, i know i am forgetting a ton of things. i blame the oxcodin, sleepy. thank so much for caring and loving me. it really carries me through these impossible days. thank you isn't adequate enough.

thanks everyone. there's talk they may release me in a few days. i dunno. i pooped today. that was exciting. i walked all the way downstairs into the sunshine and sat for awhile. i'm drifting off. dave k and wife thanks for the beautiful flowers, charlie and charlotte, the cookies! and shirt. everyone, i know i am forgetting a ton of things. i blame the oxcodin, sleepy. thank so much for caring and loving me. it really carries me through these impossible days. thank you isn't adequate enough.

Good to hear from you - card on the way but to the wrong room so it'll have done its own journey by the time it shows up!Don't forget to smile when you look in the mirror today xxx

thanks everyone. there's talk they may release me in a few days. i dunno. i pooped today. that was exciting. i walked all the way downstairs into the sunshine and sat for awhile. i'm drifting off. dave k and wife thanks for the beautiful flowers, charlie and charlotte, the cookies! and shirt. everyone, i know i am forgetting a ton of things. i blame the oxcodin, sleepy. thank so much for caring and loving me. it really carries me through these impossible days. thank you isn't adequate enough.

Those are Mother's Circus Animal Cookies, beloved by Western Foredickers, Rail Whales, and Aftertards alike. Rated as x10 Sailing Power Food. Good for a degree or two higher on a beat, and an additional 0.2kt on the VMG. Able to cure a Goldschläger hangover. Powerful stuff: use with care! Let us know if you need your prescription refilled.

thanks everyone. there's talk they may release me in a few days. i dunno. i pooped today. that was exciting. i walked all the way downstairs into the sunshine and sat for awhile. i'm drifting off. dave k and wife thanks for the beautiful flowers, charlie and charlotte, the cookies! and shirt. everyone, i know i am forgetting a ton of things. i blame the oxcodin, sleepy. thank so much for caring and loving me. it really carries me through these impossible days. thank you isn't adequate enough.

Those are Mother's Circus Animal Cookies, beloved by Western Foredickers, Rail Whales, and Aftertards alike. Rated as x10 Sailing Power Food. Good for a degree or two higher on a beat, and an additional 0.2kt on the VMG. Powerful stuff: use with care! Let us know if you need your prescription refilled.

With Love! The Foxtrots

Holy fukoley Charlie, you guys sent her some of THOSE! The Sacred Ark of Appetizers, the Maltese Falcon of Munchieness, the Holy Grail of Galletas, the Great Wall of Wonderfucky, the Cheops of Cookieism, the Santosha of Sweetness, the G-spot of Scrumptiousnessness? Jeeze, Catherine, you may not realize this right now but you have been beyond blessed by The Foxtrots, as these cookies are usually reserved just for Royalty and Cali pot smokers. So please make every nibble count, as you are now chewing on Manna from Heaven.

Oh yeah, and hide them from the Kaptain. He's totally addicted to them...

Those are Mother's Circus Animal Cookies, beloved by Western Foredickers, Rail Whales, and Aftertards alike. Rated as x10 Sailing Power Food. Good for a degree or two higher on a beat, and an additional 0.2kt on the VMG. Powerful stuff: use with care! Let us know if you need your prescription refilled.

With Love! The Foxtrots

Holy fukoley Charlie, you guys sent her some of THOSE! The Sacred Ark of Appetizers, the Maltese Falcon of Munchieness, the Holy Grail of Galletas, the Great Wall of Wonderfucky, the Cheops of Cookieism, the Santosha of Sweetness, the G-spot of Scrumptiousnessness? Jeeze, Catherine, you may not realize this right now but you have been beyond blessed by The Foxtrots, as these cookies are usually reserved just for Royalty and Cali pot smokers. So please make every nibble count, as you are now chewing on Manna from Heaven.

Oh yeah, and hide them from the Kaptain. He's totally addicted to them...

Yeah, well, Jerry Brown owed me a favor: I smuggled an Original Tommy's Double Chili/ Double Cheese burger to him past the Lesbian Vegan Capital Guards. So Gerbil (to his friends) signed the Exportation Certificate in the light of the full Moon, with a pen filled with Linda Ronstadt's blood. All proper, per California Law.

I can get more if MSG needs them: you see; I also brought him some Tommy's chili-fries and tamale.

thanks everyone. there's talk they may release me in a few days. i dunno. i pooped today. that was exciting. i walked all the way downstairs into the sunshine and sat for awhile. i'm drifting off. dave k and wife thanks for the beautiful flowers, charlie and charlotte, the cookies! and shirt. everyone, i know i am forgetting a ton of things. i blame the oxcodin, sleepy. thank so much for caring and loving me. it really carries me through these impossible days. thank you isn't adequate enough.

PM a mailing address, I got a box of indo poop for you. You'll be long gone from the house sick by the time it gets there.

thanks everyone. there's talk they may release me in a few days. i dunno. i pooped today. that was exciting. i walked all the way downstairs into the sunshine and sat for awhile. i'm drifting off. dave k and wife thanks for the beautiful flowers, charlie and charlotte, the cookies! and shirt. everyone, i know i am forgetting a ton of things. i blame the oxcodin, sleepy. thank so much for caring and loving me. it really carries me through these impossible days. thank you isn't adequate enough.

Great to hear you post!! Glad you got flowers..... Dana asks about you everyday!!

There is a tumor, a big one in my sigmoid colon, was a bit out of it. Gi doc just left and am awaiting a surgeon and oncologist visit. also have a few friends coming by to help catch all that is said as i am in pain, on pain meds and in shock. this fucking sucks. Haven't even discussed the 70-90% lesion covered liver yet. WTF?

the positive vibes and loves and messages do help. thsnks everyone. i really need them. they help me stay strong. if only i can locate my sense of humor, which maybe I left in the ER Saturday morning, I'd feel the battle was halfway over and I'd b winning.

Catherine,You just hit on two very important items in that last response of yours:

1. Do whatever you can to empower a friend or two to be your advocate(s) in the hospital. Ask them not only to listen, but to write it all down, and ask direct questions of the docs. Give the docs written permission (if needed) to talk to your advocate(s), be they family or friends. Let those people invest their own passion for you into simple, easy to understand parts, and please don't be afraid to ask them to help you. If you can't wait, or the stress is building, hit the call button and plead with the nurse to help. I never remembered what was said, and you may not either, so write the basics down, or ask someone to do it for you.

In my 4 days in the ICU leading up to my eventual GIST cancer discovery and surgery, I was lucid and not on pain drugs, but my brain was scrambled all the same. I'd already had nine transfusions, plus an endoscopy (twice, actually), a colonoscopy, and a few other procedures. I was coherent, and able to communicate effectively, but I was still a mess. I'd already seen ten doctors before they found the tumor and set up the surgery. I was overwhelmed by too much information, so a couple of my friends helped me sort out the important facts from the nonessential crap.

2. Don't be afraid to dig as deep as you need (even if it seems out of you initial comfort zone) to use humor. It's an incredibly positive tool that can and will help you.

More positive energy heading your way now**Blake

This is a terrific post. I just had my finger partially amputated due to a crash injury and I was even thinking the same thing to some degree. I know my injury doesn't compare at all to dealing with any stage of cancer. It's still important in any traumatic situation; especially something that can be very complicated like cancer. I've had the role of 'patient advocate' a couple of times and I'd do it again in a heart beat.

we can hear your strength coming back in your messages.
you are a 'model' patient..i know how hard that is and am so proud of you! get 'er done!
i'm glad you can get to a sunny spot and heal.
screw channeling the honey badger, we can be your army of yellow jackets..the fkers have hidden underground bunkers with psycho sentries; evidently they can keep their barb when they want and stab multiple times in a vendetta. i'm gaining a new respect for their no backing down cloud of fury. sorry no pics..had to flee!
my thoughts are with you alongside in this battle. rest is good for you and your dreams are clues.
(((((( wednesday hugs ))))))

was sat here, just about to head to bed, thought of you, wondered how you were doing, logged on - so just wanted to say Hi - I hope you can feel the 'good luck', and 'i hope you kick this things ass' vibes coming across the atlantic

HW

p.s - I'm very glad to hear you have farted (now there's something I never thought I would post on SA!!)

Thanks HW. I can feel it, some sort of hands across the water good vibe happening.... sure can. sure can.

And Tuffie, thats good mate. Please don't make me laugh, it hurts. More pain meds in 15..... Going home tomorrow. Nervous about managing with the staples until they come out on Tuesday and all the changes that have happened so drastically and (at times, when I'm sooky) heart-breakingly to my life.

Drugs and sleep. Drugs and sleep. Been here since 9/3. I'm ready. Friends were over cleaning my house and trying to get it ready for things I don't even know I'll need yet.

I am blessed. My friend Dan dropped his life in Mahopec and is here for me, for as long as I need. Aaron (thirdworld. outing others! outing others!) and Greer flew up from Florida to help. I am a very lucky girl. It'll make me cry if I type any more.

Thanks HW. I can feel it, some sort of hands across the water good vibe happening.... sure can. sure can.

And Tuffie, thats good mate. Please don't make me laugh, it hurts. More pain meds in 15..... Going home tomorrow. Nervous about managing with the staples until they come out on Tuesday and all the changes that have happened so drastically and (at times, when I'm sooky) heart-breakingly to my life.

Drugs and sleep. Drugs and sleep. Been here since 9/3. I'm ready. Friends were over cleaning my house and trying to get it ready for things I don't even know I'll need yet.

I am blessed. My friend Dan dropped his life in Mahopec and is here for me, for as long as I need. Aaron (thirdworld. outing others! outing others!) and Greer flew up from Florida to help. I am a very lucky girl. It'll make me cry if I type any more.

You are blessed indeed. Nothing compares to good friends, people you get to choose to include in your life and who in turn choose to include you in theirs. You are a lucky girl.

Great to hear the strength returning to the voice in your posts. Congrats on the impending release. When you get home, it may be easy to slack off when you no longer have the structure of the hospital around you. Make sure you wake up in the morning with a plan for the day on what steps you are going to accomplish that day on your road to recovery.

Remember Catherine, when friends offer to do things for you they mean it and want to do it. Somehow we get it in our heads that we don't want to be a bother. And don't feel guilty when you see a friend bringing you supper or doing your laundry. That's what friends do, and you would do the same for any of your friends if they were in the same situation. Just bask in the love!

We had Catherine updates every morning and afternoon during BBS racing via this thread, warm thoughts were, and are, flowing your way from CA.
Glad to hear you'll get home tomorrow and that your support network is in place. Be sure to tell them what you need, sometimes they just don't know how to help even when they want to. I am so glad to read how much improved you sound from your original 9/2 or 3 posts you had....it's an impossibly scary path and you are a brave strong soul. Keep on digging and reaching out. And be sure to get all the fun little supplies you like from the hospital that they will give to you.

Thanks HW. I can feel it, some sort of hands across the water good vibe happening.... sure can. sure can.

Excellent - glad to log on this morning and see that you will be heading home soon - thats great news. Make sure you do let people help you - its what friends do!!

Best of luck - will continue sending those transatlantic good vibes!!

HW

p.s - was thinking about your staples and the need to fart (lovely) - once you get those staples out you need to do some farting in the bath - one of lifes great pleasures!! (again something I never thought I would type on SA!!)

C'mon HB, honey badger don't give a fuck. my parents have yet to see/understand this thread or SA and its power but they enjoyed the hell outta that. thanks for the treat stupid!
My dad like Ryan Finn's story though. Me too, its quite inspiring,

awaiting my discharge papers, the VNA (visiting nurse assoc) just cam by to say they'll be by my house tomorrow or the next day (what the hell day it it anyway?). I should be home soon. I don't even care about the rain outside.

I just want to go home, sponge bath (its been a long time) and maybe smoke some weed to take the edge off. They put me on .25 mg of Zanex whixh doesn't do much, as my Dr Judy said (who I work for ) 'Hmmm, generous'. She kills me sometimes.

Remember Catherine, when friends offer to do things for you they mean it and want to do it. Somehow we get it in our heads that we don't want to be a bother. And don't feel guilty when you see a friend bringing you supper or doing your laundry. That's what friends do, and you would do the same for any of your friends if they were in the same situation. Just bask in the love!

Seriously +1 on that!

When I got back from the hospital after my GIST cancer surgery, I was a bit overwhelmed and embarrassed by the attention and offers of help. I certainly needed alone time and mucho rest/sleep, but one of my friends who had been a patient "advocate" when I was in the ICU finally pulled me aside and said, "Get over it and just say thank you!" LOL

She took the same role for me when I got home, helping me sort out what I was (and was not) capable of handling as far as time and energy, and acting as an information source for others so I didn't have to do it all on my own. It took a week or two before my body was capable of "normal" food (7" of small intestine had been removed along with the tumor) but before long, some of the best meals I'd had in years were appearing at my door in the hands of terrific friends!

I'd do it for my dear friends. You'd do it for yours. Let them (us) do it for you, and keep the positive karma flowing!Blake

Hi Catherine, So glad you are going home! You will heal so much better there.

I have been through the cancer merry-go-round and I agree with the other poster, use the help that is offered. But sometimes these wonderful people need a little direction. Tell them what you want. They will gladly help you out. And tell them what you don't want. (I didn't even like chocolate when I was going through chemo, not even the smell).

One thing I did not do well was tell people when I needed them to leave. You are not required to be a "good host" right now. Sometimes chit chat drove me crazy. This is a time to be more then a little selfish. But l learned something. Now, when I visit friends who are sick, I will stay about 15 minutes. If I bring food, it is something all put together that just need to be heated up and I do not stay.

HOME!!!! Had a nap in my own bed, have some of my best friends here, my SIL found me a walker to help me shuffle up and down the street AND my biggest worry: getting up to the 2nd floor stairs to my apartment? Not an issue at all. Practically ran up them. Hardest thing is to only move about for 10-15 minutes then make myself sit with feet up for at least 1/2 hour)I have much to un-pack and tidy, I thought I would be in the ER for a day , at almost 2 weeks and major surgery later, i just want to be busy at home. Ah, to be here, finally.

Go the Dan! I love him more than anyone else on the planet. Except maybe for Grumpy.

I have some catching up to do here also, in this thread.

This has been so amazing and quite a source of strength for me. To fight. To beat this. For me and because of you. Thanks. I'll do it. Just watch. Or don't. Honey badger don't give a shit.

HOME!!!! Had a nap in my own bed, have some of my best friends here, my SIL found me a walker to help me shuffle up and down the street AND my biggest worry: getting up to the 2nd floor stairs to my apartment? Not an issue at all. Practically ran up them. Hardest thing is to only move about for 10-15 minutes then make myself sit with feet up for at least 1/2 hour)I have much to un-pack and tidy, I thought I would be in the ER for a day , at almost 2 weeks and major surgery later, i just want to be busy at home. Ah, to be here, finally.

Go the Dan! I love him more than anyone else on the planet. Except maybe for Grumpy.

I have some catching up to do here also, in this thread.

This has been so amazing and quite a source of strength for me. To fight. To beat this. For me and because of you. Thanks. I'll do it. Just watch. Or don't. Honey badger don't give a shit.

I am eternally grateful.

Your tone is wonderfully reassuring for all of us who have been so worried Catherine.

HOME!!!! Had a nap in my own bed, have some of my best friends here, my SIL found me a walker to help me shuffle up and down the street AND my biggest worry: getting up to the 2nd floor stairs to my apartment? Not an issue at all. Practically ran up them. Hardest thing is to only move about for 10-15 minutes then make myself sit with feet up for at least 1/2 hour)I have much to un-pack and tidy, I thought I would be in the ER for a day , at almost 2 weeks and major surgery later, i just want to be busy at home. Ah, to be here, finally.

Go the Dan! I love him more than anyone else on the planet. Except maybe for Grumpy.

I have some catching up to do here also, in this thread.

This has been so amazing and quite a source of strength for me. To fight. To beat this. For me and because of you. Thanks. I'll do it. Just watch. Or don't. Honey badger don't give a shit.

Tomorrow morning I help my best friends Mother with Penguin Caps while she gets chemo for her Ovarian Cancer (they are gone but the C recently returned). This thread has made it easier for me to talk frankly with her and not be afraid of saying the wrong thing. The Penguin Caps may not work to keep her hair, but it's her best way to fight. And we all support her in that. I've been shocked and saddened by what Catherine and my friends Mom are going thorugh - cancer strikes so often so close to home. So close to the bone.

Seriously, I was downright terrified, worried, grief stricken, still am at times but I am on the mend and as Bowgirl said once, this place has some big shoulders that carry us. Its one baby step at a time. Home today. Staples out Tuesday, oncologist appt Wednesday. But tonight, I'm just home and alive. And happy. Yeah, I can type that and it doesn't even sound like bullshit to me. Happy.

One of the doctors told me my blockage was so bad i would have died in a few days had I not sought medical attention. I didn't even have any symptoms. Thats fucking scary. Died.

So while I hate having to fart and shit out of my stomach into this fucking bag, my 6 y/o nephew Ethan is going to get the biggest kick out of it. (hey! I'm finally a Lady (no gas from my bottom ) I am alive. Damn lucky to be here.

Hey Y'all!
Uh, short time lurker, first time poster...
This is Catherines friend Dan. Or my latest aka: Go the Dan! I wear it proudly!
What an honor to be a part of your community here! Long time anarchist , one time sailor.... Tho many times throughout my life I've been called a salty dog. Thats gotta count for something, yeah?

Anyway, after all the love pouring from these pages in the last week I just had to get aboard! Thanks for keeping our spirits afloat with the prayers, the humor, the info from personal experience and all the non-stop support. Yer all a bunch of freaks and we love you BIGTIME!! [Including that BogusScum loser, send him some psychic love he really needs it in his sad sad existence. Imagine being that unloved?]

So, here we are in Voorheesville. Years ago when I first met Catherine and other Voorheesvillians I was certain that the water was toxic, the backyards had radon and by the way, all the best parties were in the field under where the crossroads of all the powerlines of new york state intersect. Now I am living here and even drinking the water. It amazing how far love will take you.... If I become one of these mutant Vvillians, y'all will know why....

Catherine is so incredibly stronger and stronger every day! I will try to take many photos and see if she will allow some to be posted. Her eyes are clear, her voice is no longer foggy and all indications are that she will be out on the water in due time. Aye aye mudderfuggers!!
BUT--There are a lot of doctors to be seen, opinions to be heard and methods to be questioned. Chemo scares the bahjesus out of me. There I said it. Please share as many first hand accounts as you possibly can, we need info info info.... We'll be setting up the research station here and amassing as much knowledge as we can and are grateful for your help. All you other SAers who are battling or battled cancer and such, we are with you in your struggle as well and will gladly do what we can to share our positivity too!!
Anyone can send me a PM thru SA if its not for public eyes. Your privacy will be totally respected- Anarchists honor!

I guess thats enough for now. Plenty more to follow. And speaking of salty dogs, meet Zeke who is also here with us in Vville bcuz, well, bcuz!
Love to all
PEACE & STRENGTH
--DTMZekeVaBeach copy.jpg227.32KB10 downloads

MSG,
Its 0347 here in the PNW and I just finished reading the thread and learning what you're going through. I'll preface the following with a short tale. No cancer in my case, but I still feel its appropriate to the situation.

On Feb 23rd of this year, I had my gallbladder removed. 21 days later I woke up in the ICU, intubated, restrained, with a foley, a huge surgical hernia, on dialysis, and with an ileostomy. Since then, I have had the following opportunities(NOT an exhaustive list),

1) I've learned a great deal about the love I share with my wife. I've learned how strong a force my wife is, and I'm very lucky she's on my side.
2) I've learned how many truly great friends I really have. People who will, without a seconds thought, drop everything they are doing to GIVE their time and energy.
3) I've learned how to accept the help of my friends.
4) I learned to walk again, this time in competition with my friends 1 year old.
5) I've learned that EVERY second can be an opportunity. Do not waste them with self pity (not your style, just sayin')
6) I've learned that I have not only enjoyed the life I have lived, I am proud of it, and accordingly plan to continue living.

After 49 days in the hospital, I got to go home, and set to healing and living. 6 months to the day from my initial surgery I returned for my repair.
I got home from the hospital a week ago with my surgical hernia repaired and my ileostomy reversed. But since I can't do anything the easy way, my surgical site got infected and now I'm on big, badass, ridiculously expensive antibiotics and have a wound vac attached to my abdomen (I'm vacuum bagged!) Given this, I truly understand your incisional pain from your pelvic bone to your sternum. It sucks. It will get better, every day. The other thing I understand is what you are going through and will go through with your bag.

When I woke up in the ICU and was told what happened, had I the strength to move an inch, I would have found a way to eviscerate my surgeon. Then it occurred to me that I could scream, piss, moan, bitch, and be as salty a motherfucker as ever walked the planet, but it wouldn't help me fight through back to health in the least. So I put my nature and instincts aside, and channeled a friend of mine who is the most easy going, zen person I know. With everything that came my way, I learned to take it in stride. I celebrate the good, but with an eye ever to ensuring the lows aren't too far a fall. You've heard it from the nurses I'm sure. You've read it here a hundred times from people who know. You are now in a marathon, not a sprint. And this is the marathon that matters.

My zen approach kept me going for the months that followed, until I ended up in the ER because my ileostomy wafer/bag wouldn't stick, I went through a month's supplies in 6 hours and ran out, and had to go to the ER and wait through the night until the ostomy nurse got to work in the morning. This was a turning point. This was my wall. From here I had to get mad. Really, really, really mad. This gave me the strength to keep driving through, because as tired and frustrated as I was, I knew that I was stronger than this thing, and that I would win.

(Put this in your quiver)

You have to figure out what your approach is going to be, and what will work for you to beat this. You GET to CHOOSE how you are going to live. And remember, you only have to keep pushing through, one moment at a time.

As to your bag, making it easy to accept and deal with will depend a lot on your relationship with your wound/ostomy nurse. Demand a relationship that is close and open, where they understand intimately what you are going through, because it will help them understand what you need. And name it. Mine was Salad Shooter (I wish I had come up with that on my own, but even that was gift from a great friend).

MSG, you've got a lot of good people around you, and a lot of support. But if you have any questions about anything, PM me, anytime. I'll happily share whatever I can to help you out. I can't begin to understand your roe to hoe, but where ours overlap, I'll happily do what I can.

In celebration I removed the garish red supportive signature from my SA profile. Not to reflect any diminished support or concern but to simply and cautiously hope that normalcy is slowly but surely being restored to dear MSG.

Hey Y'all! Uh, short time lurker, first time poster...This is Catherines friend Dan. Or my latest aka: Go the Dan! I wear it proudly!What an honor to be a part of your community here! Long time anarchist , one time sailor.... Tho many times throughout my life I've been called a salty dog. Thats gotta count for something, yeah?

Anyway, after all the love pouring from these pages in the last week I just had to get aboard! Thanks for keeping our spirits afloat with the prayers, the humor, the info from personal experience and all the non-stop support. Yer all a bunch of freaks and we love you BIGTIME!! [Including that BogusScum loser, send him some psychic love he really needs it in his sad sad existence. Imagine being that unloved?]

So, here we are in Voorheesville. Years ago when I first met Catherine and other Voorheesvillians I was certain that the water was toxic, the backyards had radon and by the way, all the best parties were in the field under where the crossroads of all the powerlines of new york state intersect. Now I am living here and even drinking the water. It amazing how far love will take you.... If I become one of these mutant Vvillians, y'all will know why....

Catherine is so incredibly stronger and stronger every day! I will try to take many photos and see if she will allow some to be posted. Her eyes are clear, her voice is no longer foggy and all indications are that she will be out on the water in due time. Aye aye mudderfuggers!! BUT--There are a lot of doctors to be seen, opinions to be heard and methods to be questioned. Chemo scares the bahjesus out of me. There I said it. Please share as many first hand accounts as you possibly can, we need info info info.... We'll be setting up the research station here and amassing as much knowledge as we can and are grateful for your help. All you other SAers who are battling or battled cancer and such, we are with you in your struggle as well and will gladly do what we can to share our positivity too!!Anyone can send me a PM thru SA if its not for public eyes. Your privacy will be totally respected- Anarchists honor!

I guess thats enough for now. Plenty more to follow. And speaking of salty dogs, meet Zeke who is also here with us in Vville bcuz, well, bcuz!Love to allPEACE & STRENGTH--DTMZekeVaBeach copy.jpg227.32KB10 downloads

Interesting you should ask about Chemo experience. I've been in touch with Catherine privately to help, as we all have, explain our own bouts with the disease, what to expect and how to deal. When I was treated in 1976, I went thru 6 months of radiation before the chemo. The radiation wasn't so bad, my hair fell out some but overall it was not a totally unpleasant experience until the very end, at that point I could deal because I knew it would soon be over with. The Chemo was another thing all together. Still being in college, I enlisted the aid of a good friend who would drive me to and from the hospital for my first treatment. Being your typical college students, we decided to hit the local pub with our girlfriends the night before and did a great job of polishing off multiple pitchers of beer. When I finallly awoke, 2 hours after the scheduled Chemo appointment, I called my buddy who was also in a dead coma. We sprinted to the hospital where the nurses took one look at us and burst into hysterics. Anyhow, they shuffled me off and stuck the biggest needle I'd ever seen into my arm and started pumping shit into me like I was a dehydrated horse. They said I might get nauseous so they gave me a shot to minimize it (they later just mixed this in with all the other stuff but I have to tell you, for all the needles I got in this whole thing that shot hurt more than anything I ever got). We then went to the hospital pharmacy to get some more pills I had to take and hung for a while, while they filled the prescription. Being totally hung over and dehydrated, I looked at the candy machine and got myself a 3 Musketeers and an orange soda. Finally, with prescrition filled, we started walking back to my buddies car. Just as we got there I felt a quick spasm in my gut and thought "wow, that's odd". Within 5 minutes I was dry heaving out of his window, the Chemo poison doing it's work. I still hadn't gotten sick but I knew it was a matter of time, I was sweating, cramping and pretty much ready to go. As it so happened we were just reaching a fork in the highway when the time came. I had my head out the window, an unusual sight for a late November morning in RI, and a lady was passing us on my side, going the other way down the fork and staring at me. Just as I was about to blow, I looked up and straight into her eyes, she was fixated on me and wondering what was up. At that second, I exploded 3 Musketeers and orange soda (both of which I've never touched since) at her car, just as we split the other way down the fork....I still wonder what went through her mind. Anyhow, I emptied my gut all over the side of the car over the course of the rest of the ride, a nice job that actually peeled the paint off it over time. Then I spent the rest of the weekend leaving any possible bit of anything that ever entered my mouth in a garbage can next to my bed. 6 months later (and one missed appointment when I chickened out and wouldn't go into the office for my shot, despite the doctor and nurses trying to drag me in) I was done. I told Catherine that the saddest thing was going in for the appoinments and seeing little kids who had no idea what they were there for, or not understanding its' implications. And the worst part was one day not seeing the kids show up, that was the hardest. This isn't an easy thing to deal with but please keep plugging, the disease can be beat (as I'm ample proof).